Raw public outbursts have been taking place across northern Sichuan Province as grieving parents have been loudly calling for investigations into why so many school buildings collapsed during the May 12 earthquake, killing an estimated 10,000 children. During a march on Sunday, a protester waved a picture of one of the 127 children who died at the Fuxin No. 2 Primary School in Mianzhu.
A memorial service for hundreds of students of Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan, where a mother held a picture of her son, turned into an angry protest on Tuesday. Some parents said local officials had known for years that the school was unsafe but refused to take action. Others recalled that two hours passed before the rescue workers showed up; even then, they stopped working at 10 p.m. on the night of the earthquake and did not resume their search until 9 a.m. the next day.
Parents set off fireworks to chase away evil spirits as wads of paper money smoldered amid the rubble of Juyuan Middle School. Delays in launching investigations into the school collapses is likely to embolden infuriated parents who are protesting across northern Sichuan Province.
Grieving parents during the memorial service. A few parents said they had been approached by teachers and told they would be well compensated for their loss - about $4,500 per child, several times the annual income in this area - if they would stop their increasingly vociferous public campaign. But many parents rejected the offer and said they felt insulted that no one from the school or the government had come to offer condolences.
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